Richard Wilson

Local families really value the play facilities at Stationers Park, so its been very depressing to see the slow decline of the popular children’s playfort (see picture), with years of broken promises by the Council on repairing or replacing it.  But now there is some good news at last!

Thanks to the hard work of the residents in the ‘Friends of Stationers Park’ and our local parks officers, a bid for a Government ‘Playbuilder’ grant has been successful.  This means that part of the capital funding for a new big play facility is available – but more work and funding is needed to make this a reality.

I’m pushing the Council on a number of points:

• The Council need to facilitate a big consultation event at Hornsey Vale Community Centre so that more local families can have an input into the plans.  I know the Friends of Stationers Park are committed to getting a worthy successor to the much-loved playfort – but we need to make sure the Council don’t cut corners and push for something cheaper and less impressive.
• Getting in external grants is fantastic, but that’s no excuse for Haringey Council to wash their hands of their financial responsibility – this is a Council park.  I’m pressing Haringey to match fund any external grants to demonstrate their commitment and encourage donors.
• To get a move on – residents have waited long enough for action!

If you want to get involved with the Friends of Stationers Park to help improve the park and the play facilities please get in contact and I’ll pass on your details.

Because of Lib Dem conference I’m a bit behind with my posts – but I wanted to report back on last week’s meeting with the police and Haringey Council about security at Stationers Park.  The meeting was called after I met with Parks officers to demand action after the children’s play fort was badly vandalised (see previous post).

The good news is that the Council revealed they have spoken to the private contractors who close all the park gates in the Borough and they are now going to change the order they go round to ensure Stationers is one of the first to be closed – not one of the last as seemed to be happening.  I’m really pleased as this is something I suggested at the end of August.

At the meeting a Mayfield Road resident confirmed that on the first night of the vandalism the gate was still open after 10pm.  Of course, anyone can climb into the park if they really want – but leaving the gate open after dark is an open invitation to bored teenagers during the summer holiday, so this is a real Council blunder.

However, the bad news is that police say they will never be able to prioritise security at the park after dark unless more local people report problems.  Currently they say they get very few calls about late night anti-social behaviour – even though loads of residents are disturbed when it happens.  I would urge residents to help defend the Park.  If its not an emergency you can call the ‘Safer Parks Unit’ via the Met Police on 0300 123 1212.  If its an issue with the gates call the Parks Service on 020 8489 1000. 

I suspect the reason most people don’t complain is because they don’t believe anything will happen as a result.  So the police and the Council will need to make sure action is seen to happen when people take the time to contact them.

Earlier today I went to Stationers Park to meet with the Council’s Head of Parks to discuss what can been done about security following the recent vandalism (see previous post).  As a result its been agreed that the Parks department will convene a meeting between the police, local residents and parks officers to try look at ways of ensuring residents get a better response when there are problems in the park.

I hope this meeting will help local residents on Mayfield Road and Denton Road get action and commitments out of the Council and Police.  However, its clear from talking to the Head of Parks that the new ‘parkforce’ service is not 24 hours – so will not be able to guarantee any response to problems late at night.

I wish the Council’s Labour Cabinet had listened to our warnings that this was going to be a problem when they decided to cut the Parks Police.   The Parks Police weren’t perfect but the concept of a 24 hour service was a good one.

I got back from holiday recently to discover that the Stationers Park children’s playfort has been badly vandalised – and twice set on fire.  I took a look on Sunday (see picture) and have contacted the Council to demand an urgent meeting with the Head of Parks to find out what is going to be done to improve security – and to repair or replace the fort.

Its terrible that this popular play feature has been ruined during the middle of the summer holidays.  When I visited the park was full of local kids and families.  Local residents are rightly very angry and the Hornsey Journal has run the story on its front page.

But what makes me even angrier is the complacency of the Council.  Local residents have been warning Haringey for months that their decision to scrap the Parks Police has left the green space vulnerable once the local Safer Neighbourhood police team finish their shift.   I’ve had numerous complaints about the Council and police not taking action when kids break into the park at night, causing disturbance and noise for residents of Mayfield Road and Denton Road.

Yet with all these problems to sort out Haringey decides to hold a self-congratulatory ‘green flag’ ceremony in the park this week.